Introduction

At the 2007 federal election, electronically assisted voting was available for electors who were vision impaired such that they could not vote without assistance.  The details below were available to eligible voters who requested to use this technology to cast their votes at the election.

Voting Session Overview

The trial was available at 29 early voting centres for up to two weeks before and on election day.  The electronic voting machines were designed to provide all the necessary information to assist voters in allocating their preferences. However, in continuing to build awareness and increase confidence in the workings of the technology and the voting process, the following helpful hints were provided.

Arrival at the Polling Place

On arrival at the polling place, the voter was met by a polling official. At this point the voter could indicate that they wanted to use the electronic voting machine to cast their votes.

In voting at an early voting centre voters were required to sign a declaration envelope stating that they had not voted previously in the election. This is a standard procedure and voters were assisted with this.

On completion of the declaration envelope, the polling official identified the appropriate electoral division so that the correct ballots were presented to the voter. On completion of this process, the voter was escorted to the voting machine.

Once at the machine the polling official explained the component parts of the machine to the voter. This also included an opportunity for the voter to test and familiarise themselves with each key on the keypad and it’s particular function.

After the orientation, the voter was offered an optional practice session. This involved voting in a make-believe election that presented the ballots to the voter in the same way as it did in the actual voting session, but with fictitious candidate and party names. If a voter did not require a practice session, the polling official enabled the machine for the voter to cast their vote in the federal election.

The polling official used a barcode reader and the keypad to enable the machine to present the correct ballots. This process was explained to the voter at the time by the polling official. A similar process took place at the end of the voting session to remove all data from the machine and prepare the machine for the next voter.

Voters were able to take as much time as needed to complete voting and could call for assistance at any time.

Let’s Start Voting

The House of Representatives

The first ballot presented was for the House of Representatives.

The voter was instructed to listen carefully to the initial instructions. The audio told them how many candidates there were on the ballot. Remember that in voting for the House of Representatives, the voter is required to allocate a preference to every candidate to ensure that the vote is complete.

The default position on the ballot was at the candidate at the top of the ballot. The remaining candidates were listed one after the other down the ballot.

Voters with some vision may have noted that as they navigated up and down the ballot and they moved to each candidate, the text of that candidate and the square adjacent to the candidate’s name were highlighted and enlarged. This made the current position on the ballot easier to identify. Voters with limited or no vision were able to navigate the ballot assisted entirely by the audio instructions.

If a voter used the screen, some candidates may not have been shown on the initial display, and the voter would have needed to use the down button to ensure they accessed and numbered all candidates.
For all voters, a useful tip was to identify the candidate at the top of the ballot and then to navigate down until the candidate at the bottom of the ballot was identified.  This provided a sense of the ballot space and where each candidate was positioned in relation to each other.

If a voter was at the default position at the top of the ballot paper and pressed the up key (key 2), the candidate’s name was repeated, and this continued until the voter either selected this candidate or moved down to another candidate. Likewise, if the voter was at the bottom of the ballot and pressed the down key (key 8), that candidate’s name was repeated.

At any time, if the name of a candidate was continually repeated, this prompted the voter to either allocate a preference with the 5 Key or move to another candidate with either the up or down keys.

After the voter selected a candidate with the 5 key, the system acknowledged this action by saying “Preference One” for the first preference, two for the second and so on. This prefix then remained attached to these candidates unless a candidate was deselected.

The audio prefix assisted voters in completing the process as each time the voter subsequently navigated to a candidate that had been already allocated a preference, the audio stated this and also identified the number of that preference. This not the case for any remaining candidates without preferences, as the audio just stated that candidate’s name and party.

When the voter had completed voting by allocating all preferences, the audio said that all preferences had been allocated. To move to the confirmation screen, the voter had to press the hash key.

In the confirmation screen, if the voter wants to hear how their preferences had been allocated, then the voter had to listen to all instructions and not press the hash key on the initial prompt. Their preferences were then read back to them. If the voter was confident that they had allocated all their preferences as they intended then they pressed the hash key to print the encoded ballot paper.

The Senate Ballot

The voter followed instructions from the audio in order to vote in the Senate.

Initially the voter was given an opportunity to vote in one of two ways. This was by voting on either the Above the Line or Below the Line ballots.

If the voter elected to vote Above the Line, they were required to allocate one and only one preference for the group or party of their choice. If they elected to vote Below the Line the voter was required to allocate a preference against every listed candidate for the ballot to be complete. Voters were prompted to make this choice by using either the 2 or the 8 keys and confirming their selection with the 5 key.

Above the Line

In Above The Line, the voter used the 4 and 6 keys to move left and right respectively across the ballot. The groupings on the Senate ballot were listed adjacent to each other across the screen, with the default starting position being at the far left hand side of the ballot at group “A”.

The alpha identifier for each grouping acted as a reference point to assist voters in determining where they were positioned on the ballot.

In navigating across the ballot, the voter identified the party or group they wanted to vote for. In this case, it was just a matter of allocating that preference by pressing the 5 key. To move to the confirmation screen, the voter had to press the hash key.

In the confirmation screen, if the voter wanted to hear how their preference was allocated, then the voter had to listen to all instructions and not press the hash key on the initial prompt. The group selected was then read back to them. If the voter was confident that they had selected the group they intended, they could press the hash key to print the encoded ballot paper.

Below the Line

If the voter wanted to vote Below The Line, all navigational keys would be needed.

The 4 and 6 keys moved between groups/parties as outlined in the Above the Line process. The 2 and 8 keys moved up and down the list of candidates within these groups, with the 5 key once again being used to allocate preferences against candidates.

As the voter moved between groups, the audio advised the name of the group or party (if any) and of how many candidates were in each particular group and how many were without preference.

The voter was not required to keep track of the preference number as these were automatically allocated sequentially from preference one through to the last number. But the voter needed to identify the candidates without preferences so that they could number them in order that all candidates were allocated a preference and the vote was complete.

Allocating a preference for each candidate took a little more time and was slightly more complicated. Voters were reminded that they were entitled to take as much time as they required to complete the process.

Once again, to move to the confirmation screen, the voter had to press the hash key. Again, the voter could listen to the complete list of selections, prior to pressing the hash key a second time to print the encoded ballot paper.

Complete the Voting Session

After printing the Senate ballot paper, the instructions prompted the voter to call a polling official. For convenience, this was done by using a small bell located adjacent to the keypad.

The voter’s preferences were encoded in a barcode, so anyone seeing the printed sheets could not see how the person voted. 

The polling official asked the voter if they would like their encoded ballot papers checked to see if they had printed correctly. The voter could elect to have the official check the printing or not.

After this process, the polling official again accessed the EVM to terminate the voting session and removed all data from the machine.

The votes were then placed in the declaration envelope that was completed and signed by the voter at the commencement of the process. The envelope containing the two ballots was then placed in the ballot box and the voting process  was completed